A Guide To Buying Gold In Saudi Arabia

Small trinkets or ornate wedding jewelry –a guide to it all.

Many visitors to Saudi Arabia, including those on a religious pilgrimage, inevitably end up buying the yellow sparkling metal. After all, there isn’t sales tax or VAT that is charged in Saudi Arabia and on top of that locally designed and manufactured gold is sold at cheaper rates than one would find in many other gold jewelry hubs.

Whether you’re an investment savvy investor who wants to invest in gold ingots or a blithe shopper who wants to buy gold in forms of articles of jewelry , these tips can help you with your search for gold in Saudi Arabia. What’s more is that you don’t have to be in a specific city to purchase gold; almost a major cities in the country have enough of the glitzy metal to pander to your wishes.

Jewelry? Investment? Or an investment that you can wear around your neck?

Based on the purpose, potential buyers can be divided into these 3 broad categories.

Jewelry:

If you want to buy gold solely for jewelry purposes then buying 18 or 21 karat gold jewelry would do just fine. An 18 karat jewelry item though of lesser value and lesser purity in terms of gold is actually sold at much the same price to that of the 21 karats one. This is mainly due to the complexity of design, as even thin 18 karat gold chains are much sturdier and thereby help in producing complex designs without weighing more. Plus, 18 karat ones seem less glitzy and are favorites amongst the youth, who don’t want the bling and the flashiness that a bright yellow 21 karat brings with it. There is also white gold that is becoming increasingly popular in the country.

Investment:

Most gold shops sell gold coins and gold bars that are made of 24 karat gold. Some even come with a 999.9 purity standard. These bullions can weigh from anywhere between 1 gram to 1 kilogram. Investors can just hold on to these coins or bars and wait for the gold prices to increase and then sell it to make a profit or they can always save it for a rainy day as gold is a very liquid and relatively stable investment. Bullions issued by internationally recognized brands such as Valcambi and PAMP are available in Saudi Arabia. Some Middle Eastern based jewelry brands like Malabar Gold and Joy Alukkas also sell their own branded bullion coins and bars through their outlets in the country.

An investment that you can wear around your neck:

Photo Credit: eremnews.com

For this purpose, it is recommended to buy 21 or 22 karat gold that has little or no stones in it. Depending on the design the prices vary; Saudi or Bahraini designs are cheaper than Indian or Italian designs. At the time of resale, the design, premium or the number of stones doesn’t matter, all that matters is the final weight and the purity of the gold.

Where To Buy?Souks are better than malls in terms of prices. However, in terms of high-end jewelry and precious gemstone based ornaments, it is the malls that offer the best variety. Every major city in Saudi Arabia has its own gold souk, Kandarah in Jeddah, Batha in Riyadh and so on and so forth.

Bargaining on gold?Yes, yes and yes. You will not find any shop willing to negotiate on the gold rate, what you will find, however, is that they will be willing to negotiate on the making, wastage and premium charges. If they don’t budge you can always go to another seller who is willing to cut into his margins. After all, competition is cut-throat in the souks.

Know the Gold RateIt definitely helps in haggling with the shopkeeper and may also help in deciding on when to purchase based on historical values and forecasts in case you are looking into gold as an investment. You can check the day’s rate on websites like Goldrate24.com or Livepriceofgold.com

When To Buy?Gold prices are volatile. To minimize the variances in rates one should buy gold on Saturday or Sunday, as it is during these days that gold is not being traded on international exchanges.

Say No To Credit CardsCash or via a MADA debit card is the way to go. Credit cards charge extra fees that the store will not be ready to bear, so expect your price to magically increase if you are planning to pay by credit card. Someone has to bear the costs that the credit card companies charge and it’s not going to be the gold seller – well not in Saudi Arabia.

8 Comments

Saudi Arabia is one of a good place to buy gold. They have known for it already. In fact, some are visiting the place to buy gold which cost them just a small amount of money and are able to sell it for a bigger price.

Buying Gold is always a great moment of my life, as I love to buy gold which make me more shining and impressive. Wearing jewelry on events makes a great impression on others, and this quick guide taught me a great ways of buying gold in Saudi Arabia.

Attention: Sir/MadamWe are seeking for a buyer or a foreign Partner to assist us in selling our large quantity of Alluvial Gold Dust/ Bar on the foreign market,the purity is 22+ carat plus on CIF procedure .Our gold is 22+ carats and of origin in Sierra Leone . Please note that our gold is not for sale on 100% credit. Buyer will negotiate with us on the purchasing and payment terms.The decision to sell was to enable us procure equipment to help us expand our mining operations.Prices will be negotiable to enable you make a good profit as we intend to build a long lasting business relationship.Interested buyers should contact us. Michael Thomas
+23279331212mtlocalminner@gmail.com

Dear Sir/Madam,
We are small scale Gold miners here in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire. We have huge quantity of alluvial Gold Dust for sale at a considerable price of Gold Dust $25,500USD per kilo and Gold Dory Bar $26,000 USD per Kilo which is below world market price because we recently decided to expand our business scope internationally and are on the move of building our customer and partnership network.

We want only reliable and serious buyer or broker for a long term business relationship. If you are interested, do not hesitate to get back to us as soon as you receive this mail so that we will prepare and send you our full co-operate offer(FCO). Even if you are not prepared to buy our Gold Dust now but can get a buyer for us, we pay 7% commission per kg to Agent/Mandate or Intermediary.

We look forward in doing a long lasting business transaction with you.

I have one confusion here, if I have to buy 24K gold , how much in addition to actual value i have to pay per gram, in my case , as today gold rate is 185.55 , but gold seller in shop said that 3 SAR is his margin and 3 for bank (i couldn’t understand) and I have to pay 192 per gram so for 10 grams I have to pay 1920 SAR but 10 Gram here is 1855 SAR .. Can you help me or guide me about this. thanks

In Saudi Arabia daily a lot of people purchase hold ornaments since they love you wear gold’s. However they need to know about gold and how to buy them. This is a perfect guide for the. This blog provides a guide to buying gold I’m Saudi Arabia. Thanks a lot.